Connecticut fire crew to return home from Canada

Published July 31. 2013 10:00AM | Updated August 01. 2013 12:00AM

The state’s fire crew returned Wednesday to the Eastern District Headquarters in Marlborough after spending nearly two weeks fighting a wildfire in Quebec, according to Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The 19-member crew — nine DEEP employees and 10 private-sector firefighters — left Connecticut on July 20 and were sent to northern Quebec, where they helped fight a 30,000-acre wildfire located in the far eastern side of the Province near Baie-Comeau.

Three members of the crew were local: Jason Bjornberg of Lyme, Eric Gileau of Preston and Margo Ward of Mystic.

The crew assisted Canada under the auspices of the Northeast Forest Fire Compact. The compact is a mutual-aid agreement between several northeastern states and Eastern Canadian Provinces.